Customer Reviews

Family Honor

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(43)
3 star:		(30)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

While I am a die hard Spenser fan, I can grow to very much appreciate Sunny Randall and her crew (Richie & Spike). I found the book to be written in the typical Parker style - witty and funny one liners and great character build ups, and of course having the plot take place in and around the Boston area is just icing on the cake. I appreciated learning more about who Tony Marcus is and what makes him tick. While this book reminded me of Thin Air, it was just different enough to have kept me turning the pages (I read it in one day). The only bad thing about Family Honor (as I find with all Parker books) is when I'm finished - and it usually takes me no more than two days to read his books, is I have now got to wait XXX months before a new one comes out. Please keep writing the Spenser novels and if it not asking too much, come out with at least two books (Spenser, Jesse or Sunny) a year.

As a long time fan of Parker's Spenser novels I was curious to see how he would handle writing with the voice of a female protagonist. I found this book to be quite entertaining with the trademark Parker dialogue which always make his books such an easy read. Let's face it, Parker's books are wonderful brain candy not The Name of the Rose or The Celestine Prophecy and I'm about to commit heresy on Amazon by saying I was hesitant to buy this book in hardcover so I got it out of the library. I think Parker books are always best savored in paper back because you're talking about a mere 2-3 day commitment. I think we're in the Getting to Know Sunny Randall stage of the game in terms of this character as well as her sidekicks. I'm hoping that Parker has plans to flesh out these characters in subsequent outings. I thought Parker scored with Sunny's dilemmas over whether or not to ask for male assistance in some of her confrontations. I thought that a very realistic touch but are we going to be treated to Felicity-like agonizing over Richie vs. Brian vs. God Knows Who in the next book? With a so-so movie you wait for the video, with a so-so book you wait for the paperback. Wait for the paperback or visit your library on this one but once you get it in your hands sit back and escape, you'll enjoy it.

Robert Parker has done something that no mystery writer has ever done before, to my knowledge: He has turned his hero into a heroine. Sunny is clearly Spenser and vice versa. You can change the characters, but you cannot change the authors. For those who are enjoying the powerful trend toward female detectives, this is particularly interesting because it sheds light on perceptions about women. How would a woman go about accomplishing what a man would in a violent, tough world? I found the contrast to be interesting and stimulating. On the other hand, I am not sure I want to read two series about Spenser. More troubling is that Parker has Sunny rely on her mob connections through her ex-husband a lot. It seemed to me that he crossed an ethical line along the way that was unnecessary, and sets a bad example. Parker seems to suggest that the female Spenser can only make it if men help a lot, including the most corrupt men on the planet. Frankly, that is offensive to me. After all, much detection these days can use modern methods to search out answers, such as computer-based research. Why not create a real female detective for his next book? I think it would sell better and be more rewarding for readers like me. I also thought the plot was a little thin for Parker. At one point he assumes that the mob has gone so public that you can look them up like anyone else to find out exactly what they are doing. I doubt if that is, has been, or ever will be the case. Read this one for curiosity value if you are a Spenser fan, not because it is a mystery you would have otherwise picked up.

I don't normally read airport books but this one caught my eye in LAX among all the other hyped up best-seller production line flotsam. I had never even heard of Robert B Parker,... but no matter.

The plot follows the efforts of female private eye Sunny Randall to find out why a teenage daughter disappeared from a powerful Boston family. It has enough twists to keep the pages turning eagerly, the characters may not reach Tolstoy depths but there's enough texture and flavor to hit archetypal buttons and the writing overall is professional and enjoyable. It all resolves to a believably gritty but positive conclusion, give or take a few corpses. The high-minded conflict between white hats and black hats ends up nicely smudged, just like in real life.

Above all, I found Family Honor warm-hearted and Sunny Randall a likeable and mostly credible heroine. These days, I'm steering clear of entertainments that leave me feeling bleak, however compelling they may be. I rate Family Honor as a good buy and my appetite is now whetted for some of the other Parker books that other reviewers rate even higher.

As a reader with only a passing knowledge of the Spencer series, I found Family Honor to be a refreshing, fun read. I give much of the credit to Andrea Thompson, the perfomer of the unabridged tape who does a terrific job of maximizing the impact of Parker's one liner's and other humorous (if sometimes cynical) asides. Thompson and Parker combine to create Sunny, a nice addition to the ranks of the female P.I. As a detective, she's not all that unusual. It's as a person that Parker has created a person that I'd really like to spend time with. She's smart but has just the right levels of vulnerability. I could live without the dog, but I'm not much a of dog person.

The underlying mystery (and it's solution) isn't exceptional but is interesting enough to keep this reader involved. A fifteen year old has run away from home. Finding out why she's run is ultimately more of a mystery than finding the girl herself. It brings in a mix of Boston high society, state politics and some local mob wars. Sunny's ex-father-in-law proves handy. There's a bit of romance too.

Bottom-line: May be redundant for long time Spenser fans but a very enjoyable read for this new fan of Parker's work.

Yes, there's similarity to Parker's "Early Autumn" in that the detective sort of adopts a teenager who's aimlessly floating around, and yes, bits of the dialogue are identical to Spenser dialogue, but that's not really sufficient to take away from the enjoyment of this book.

Sunny isn't really a female Spenser. She's less comfortable dealing with the gangster connections than Spenser is. While she's a good shot, she doesn't seem to be a true physical match for the bad guys.

In this first outing, she's hired to find a missing 15 year old daughter, but on finding her also discovers that she'll be in considerable danger if she's returned to her family. The story goes on from there. We meet Tony Marcus who we know from Spenser books. And a flip remark is made at one point which indicates that Sunny knows of Spenser and his reputation.

Parker likes to throw in little teasers. When we realize that the girl and her mother will each likely be visiting psychologists, we can't help wondering if one of them won't end up with that lady counsellor we know so well. After all, this is set in Boston.

There's bound to be a bit of a tie-in with other Parker series and therefore, I recommend reading all Parker stories in sequence.

Robert Parker has a winner with his new detective, Sunny Randall, a divorced, former cop turned Boston P.I. who owns a miniature bull terrier and really wants to be a professional painter. She's smart, tough and very good at her job. This story revolves around the disappearance of a wealthy teenager, Millicent Patton and Sunny works her way through a violent pimp, murder and government conspiracy to solve the case. In the process, she gets help from her ex-husband Richie, the son of a mobster and her dearest friend, Spike, a colorful, tough gay man. Together this threesome make things happen. Parker has put together a terrific and memorable cast of characters and has no equals when it comes to his witty one-liners and irreverent dialogue. The story is fast paced and entertaining with a strong climax and satisfying ending. Sunny Randall is a fresh new character and hopefully, we'll be seeing more of her in the future.

Sunny and Richie were married for nine years. They had had a house in Marblehead. Richie refused the house. Sunny wrapped her paintings in order to move her things. Her mother said she was disappointed. Her father offered to help with a divorce or with whatever she needed. Families offer protection to their members. Protection is the theme of Parker's story.

Sunny was a cop, her father was a cop. Richie resembled her father although he came from a crime family. Sunny moved to investigation and then to private investigation. She is hired to find a teenage runaway. The mother seems too perfect. Sunny is pursuing an MFA nights. She still paints and lives in a loft. The missing girl, Millicent, attended a girls school. The school provided a classical education. Millicent had been missing for ten days. At the school she had no friends, no interests, no achievements.

Sunny discovered that Millicent had been to a youth shelter. The person running the shelter said that the kids seemed to have equal measures of defiance and guilt. Sunny needs her ex-husband's help to get her into areas of activity to find Millicent, (Milly). Sunny finds the girl through the connections that Richie Burke makes available to her. Since Milly isn't talking convincingly, Sunny has the the girl move in with her.

It develops that others are looking for the girl. They have to go to the mattresses and move to a friend's apartment in the South End. An interesting subtext in the story is that families teach its members how to function, and that no one seems to have taken any time to teach Milly how to function.

Parker writes that in Boston organized crime is an oxymoron. There are loose groups. When Sunny returns to her loft, she finds that it had been tossed. The insurance company sends a clean up team to the loft. Sunny is able to identify her primary interest as keeping the girl safe. Through the intervention of Richie Sunny could return to her loft and begin to solve the mystery. This is a strong and enjoyable effort by Robert Parker, writing from his strengths such as knowledge of the Boston environs and police networking.

Sunny Randall is more than a female equivalent of Spenser, though that's a convenient starting point. Like the Spenser novels, these are told in first person by a Boston private investigator. There is a similar wit about her as there is to Spenser. And Parker's writing style is very similar in this novel -- crisp dialogue, brief but important descriptions, and good character development for the genre. Also, as I found in the Jesse Stone novels, there is the occasional involvement of minor characters from the Spenser novels.

But -- to a degree -- Randall thinks about the issues that surround her more than Spenser does (or at least Parker shares more of these insights with us). As Spenser sometimes will bounce ideas and theories off Susan Silverman about the psychological make-up of some his clients, Randall does the same about herself, both internally and with her friend, Julie, who is a psychiatrist.

Don't get me wrong -- there's plenty of hard-boiled detective mystery here. But Parker continues to prove that he can write more than one-dimensional characters.

This was a great read even though the plot wasn't up to Parker's best, suspense wise. However, the characters he introduces are fun and compelling to read about and easy to get to know.

I disagree with some other comments here that this parallels "Thin Air." I see a direct parallel between Sunny and her teen age protaganist, and Spenser and Paul G. in "Early Autumn." In both "Family Honor" and "Early Autumn" the young people are saved by the hero/heroine and a relationship developes which transcends the immediate case (book). At least in the Spenser version. It remains to be seen if this will reappear in future Sunny Randall novels.

All in all a fun read. So hunker down and enjoy!